Gentleman's Challenge #11 - All the Little Things

[Maets]

Wishing and your wife well.

[Wirecase]

I would love to contribute to the fun....after all....it's the little things that really count!

Regrettably I must withdraw from this competion. My much better half has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and all my energies must be directed to the coming endiver. My apologies.

Dude! I wish you and your wife lots of strength in the battle against breast cancer, no need to apologize what so ever! Health and family first, imho!

Greets and good luck!

Wire.

(Kees Ricken)

[Professor J. Cogsworthy]

Ironbeard.... Best of luck with this bad situation. Hoping for the best
of all possible outcomes for your wife.

[Professor J. Cogsworthy]

 

Just in case anyone is wondering the body/barrel of the gun was made from a lamp
finial ( the same type I am usinf for my Jacob's Ladder ) and for the grip I hammered and
filed a short piece of 3/8" aluminum rod ( that I have MANY pieces of ) into the needed
shape. I drilled a small hole into the grip and into the finial and "doweled" it in place with
a small nail and some superglue. The gun sight is a tiny little eye screw also set into an
equally tiny sized hole and superglued in place. I painted the whole thing black and then
drybrushed the gun to finish it off...

[polyphemus]

Computational Engine Pointing Device
(Calling it a mouse would just be silly...)

[Banfili]

Wow! Love that CEPD!!!

[Lt. Thomas Corvidae]

My thoughts go out to you and your wife, Dr. Ironbeard.

[Banfili]

Fortitude, Dr Ironbeard. A candle will be lit for your lady & yourself.

[A. Pettyengineer]

Ironbeard you have mine as well.
OK
Now I have a problem...
I built a clank to help me build something for the Challenge...The clank fitted into the size of the challenge 50x50x50mm (folded arms) so in one way that could be classed as an entry...
The clank decided it was a Female and Her name is Miss P.A.I.G.E and then took over the workshop gave herself some wings and started giving me orders as to what was going to be in the challenge (my poor old Bali Zippo copy).
Look the best way to explain all this is just show how bad my Box Camera-defuzzy is and whack up some pictures, the entry or second entry (not sure if there were any rules as to how many one could have) is Our entry... not sure how to paraphrase that bit...
A steam an clockwork powered lighter with a small twist ...there is a hole clean through the body so the extra cogs needed (her words) could be seen.. whatever it works and I am sort of proud of US both.
So on with the show.











So that's my entry or 2.
Sorry but the box camera-defuzzy not good on closeups.

[Captain Braid]

I would love to contribute to the fun....after all....it's the little things that really count!

Regrettably I must withdraw from this competion. My much better half has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and all my energies must be directed to the coming endiver. My apologies.

My condolences to both of you.
My wife has been through this ordeal (2006) and it does put a huge spanner in the normal workings.
Speaking from experience there are times when you are going to have to "Grit your Teeth" and deal with the effects (and side effects) of Chemotherapy. Neither set of effects can be pleasant, some directly to her, others you'll share in.

I'd strongly recommend that she gets herself registered on the Breast Cancer Forums as there is a lot of support, understanding and good suggestions from the women and men on there.

[Maets]

Excellent work Pettyengineer, but are you really willing to part with those wonders for $5 or equivalent?

[A. Pettyengineer]

The spend on the Challenge was $5 or less not the value one would place on the finished object-de-art.
The Zippo copy was a pressy from a long gone RIP good friend (Friend went to Bali and all I got was this Tshirt oh and a cheap Zippo copy).
As to the clank !!!!!!!
If she keeps going the way she has in MY workshop, she may end up on the scrapheap, although the Captain likes her ever since she showed him he had the 3D map sideways.

[Professor J. Cogsworthy]

from the first post announcing the rules...

•Can I use this 5 carat diamond I just so happen to have laying about my workshop? Sure you could, but it would kind of defeat the purpose of the tiny challenge. So then ammend the previous rule to: you ought to be willing to part with your creation if someone were to offer you $/£/€5 for it!

[Frolicking Johnson]

Excellent work Pettyengineer, but are you really willing to part with those wonders for $5 or equivalent?

I agree, impressive work indeed. I know it was stated in the rules, but I can't imagine anyone would really sell anything that they put such effort into for $5. Am I wrong?

[A. Pettyengineer]

RULES ARE RULES

I hereby Retire from this Challenge.
And withdraw my entry, entry's

[Frolicking Johnson]

RULES ARE RULES

I hereby Retire from this Challenge.
And withdraw my entry, entry's

I may be wrong, it's kind of hard to interpret people's meaning without voice inflection and such online...but I think the above statements are simply meant to be a friendly ribbing of sorts. Your entries are lovely.

[Maets]

RULES ARE RULES

I hereby Retire from this Challenge.
And withdraw my entry, entry's

I may be wrong, it's kind of hard to interpret people's meaning without voice inflection and such online...but I think the above statements are simply meant to be a friendly ribbing of sorts. Your entries are lovely.

Ditto

[Professor J. Cogsworthy]

ummm....

My posting of the rule probably didn't come across the way I meant it to....

Sorry if I offended anyone.

[Professor Fzz]

from the first post announcing the rules...

•Can I use this 5 carat diamond I just so happen to have laying about my workshop? Sure you could, but it would kind of defeat the purpose of the tiny challenge. So then ammend the previous rule to: you ought to be willing to part with your creation if someone were to offer you $/£/€5 for it!

I'm not sure that amendment to the rule is in the spirit of the challenge.  The amendment seems like it was intended to avoid using expensive components, but was it really intended to discourage putting in more than 45 minutes or so of work (at minimum wage)?   It seems to me that Mr Pettyengineer's entries are exactly the sort of thing we would want to encourage - cheap components, but wonderful creative outcome.

So, my question for Akumabito - can you clarify this rule amendment please.  Were you trying to discourage putting in more than an hour or so of work, even if the components are cheap? 

[and_solo_said]

It seems that a better phrasing would be:

'You ought to be willing to part with your starting materials if someone were to offer you $/£/€5 for them.'

[Lt. Thomas Corvidae]

I have been musing on that amendment as well as I sit around with my sandpaper and square. Personally, I have come to terms that when my entry is done, if its going to a nice home, I would be willing to part with it for $5. It also cost less than $5 to make. So, I feel I've got it covered on both variations. Though, I may have to take the diamond encrusted veneer off now....

[Maets]

I make many things everyday that cost less than $5 in parts as I get most, if not all of the pieces for free.  But I put in lots of time and would never, ever sell them for $5. In fact, on my bench right now are small bells that I sell regularly for $120 to $160.  The total cost of materials is $1.78. The cost of material is irrelevent to the challenge.  It is the total cost to the maker and thus his/her willingness to sell such an item for $5.  In addition, this challenge has a finished size requirement.

All that being said, I am just a participant and await the offical word from our sponsor.   

[Lt. Thomas Corvidae]

As an amendment to my previous statement: I would totally be willing to have someone buy what I am making for $5, especially if it teaches them how to make one as well. Also, I can then say that I sold some art. Of course, that is usually followed up by the statement/question "Oh how wonderful! How much did you sell it for?"

Ha! 

Also, aren't we supposed to just have fun with this? And not worry so much about such things?

[Frolicking Johnson]

Also, aren't we supposed to just have fun with this? And not worry so much about such things?

I would agree that having fun is priority one.

[akumabito]

I leave you lot alone for a few measly days and now see what happened!

Just to clarify the rule a bit (I hope) - I was indeed meant as a soryt of equalizer. Remember the first few GC's? Those came with a very specific list of items that had to be used, and the rest was up to your imagination. When I started doing these GC's, I wanted to give you guys some more freedom in what materials you'd want to use, so I organized them around a theme or backstory of sorts. That all worked great, and provided some excellent projects. However, I noticed that participation levels dropped quite a bit because a lot of people felt they could not compete either artitistically, technically or monitarily. By setting some size and cost limits, I was hoping to get the focus away from the "biggest, shiniest brass and wood thing with cool lights and dials" back to the smaller projects where engenuity and inventiveness are more important than mad engineering skills or how much money you can throw at your project.